Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

The 19th century version of the New Age was Transcendentalism, and its premier spokesperson was the widely-respected Emerson.  Indeed, he was such a prolific speaker and highly quotable writer that his name still pops up in speeches and books of the present day.  After coming across his name again and again, it is a gorgeous literary surprise to finally read Emerson, and have him describe your own idealism to you in what is probably the most beautiful language ever put on paper. Emerson thought deeply about the nature of reality and his essays are rich with imagery and sweeping arguments that carry one beyond any doubt into the true nature of things. The formal style takes a little getting used to, but with patient reading, Emerson will show you the true majesty of idealistic thought.

Notable Books: Portable Emerson

Links to Learn More: Wikipedia entry, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Emerson Central

Henry David Thoreau (1816-1862)

Another brilliant Transcendentalist, Thoreau’s Walden remains the quintessential exploration of “the authentic life.”  But unlike Emerson’s lofty and soaring prose, Thoreau writes in a spare, incisive style, revealing the beauty and joys of the mundane.  “Sometimes as I drift on Walden Pond, I cease to live and begin to be,” he says simply, and with the deftly drawn details of his account, we are there with him.  While Walden is his most famous work, his journals and essays are also gold mines of insight.

Notable Books:  Walden, Thoreau’s Journals

Links to Learn More: Wikipedia entry, Transcendentalists.com, The Thoreau Reader

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Idealism in its purest and most eloquent form found its voice in Walt Whitman.  His Leaves of Grass does not read like mere poetry, but like the utterings of exuberant Spirit itself.

Notable Books:  Leaves of Grass, Portable Walt Whitman

Links to Learn More: Wikipedia entry, Whitman Archive, Poets.org entry

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941)

The winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature (1913), Tagore was an astonishingly prolific writer of poems, stories and plays, as well as an artist and science enthusiast.  But it is his philosophic writings that make me frequently stop in awe to absorb yet another wondrous insight into life and reality.  I have quotes from his work scribbled in notebooks all over my house.

Notable Books:  Sadhana: The Realization of Life, Ranbindranath Tagore: An Anthology.

Links to Learn More: Wikipedia entry, School of Wisdom, NobelPrize.org

Henri Bergson (1859-1941)

Another Nobel Prize winner for literature (1927), Bergson was perhaps the foremost philosopher of “conscious evolution.”  He began with the ages-old philosophy of idealism and interpreted it through the lens of Darwin’s recently-published theory of evolution, and came up with a brilliant synthesis of logic and intuition, mind and heart.   

Notable Books: Creative Evolution, The Creative Mind

Links to Learn More: Wikipedia entry, Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Nobel Prize.org

Pierre Tielhard de Chardin (1881-1955)

A unique combination of Jesuit priest and respected paleontologist, Teilhard stretched himself between the worlds of religion and science and landed in a kind of mysticism in the middle.  His philosophical writings were repressed by the Catholic church during his lifetime, but luckily were published after his death.  He believed humans were evolving toward a conscious network, a “noosphere,” that would one day circle the globe, all but predicting the Internet.  His writing shimmers with wisdom, heart and hope.

Notable Books: The Phenomenon of Man, The Divine Mileu

Links to Learn More: Wikipedia entry, American Teilhard Association

Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986)

Raised to be a “World Teacher” by the leaders of the Theosophical Society, Krishnamurti eventually rejected the role thrust upon him, and declared that “truth is a pathless land.” He spent the rest of his life giving talks on the nature of reality and how to discover it on one’s own.  Reading his words is like sitting next to a gentle stream that gradually calms the mind.  

Notable Books:  Think on These Things, The Wholeness of Life

Links to Learn More:  Wikipedia entry, Krishnamurti Foundation of America, Krishnamurti Information Network

Joseph Campbell (1904-1987)

Well-known as the world’s foremost mythology expert, Campbell’s writings are much more than an exploration of mythology.  He deftly takes up strands of religion, philosophy and psychology and weaves them together into a dazzling whole, then shows us how this whole is personally significant to each of us.  His gift for discerning what is beneath universal symbols is joined with a talent for translating abstract insights into concrete words. Campbell reveals to us to all the hidden aspects of our mental lives.

Notable Books: The Hero With a Thousand Faces, Myths to Live By, The Power of Myth, A Joseph Campbell Companion, Pathways to Bliss: Mythology and Transformation

Links to Learn More:  Wikipedia entry, The Joseph Campbell Foundation

Alan Watts (1915-1973)

Along with D.T. Suzuki, Watts was one of the first interpreters of Eastern philosophy for a Western audience.  Beginning in the 1930s with The Spirit of Zen, through his death in 1973, Watts wrote dozens of books and essays that made the formerly inscrutable thought of the East almost easy for a novice to grasp.  His writing shines with profound understanding, humor and uncommon talent with a metaphor.  A few hours with Watts can make you feel as if a hundred little lights have been turned on inside your mind. In my opinion, he was the most extraordinary spiritual teacher of the 20th century.  And if you have the chance to listen to any of his recorded lectures, avail yourself of the treat.

Notable Books:

Links to Learn More: www.alanwatts.com, Wikipedia entry, www.alanwatts.net

Huston Smith (1919-     )

A philosophy professor that became fascinated by the different religions of the world, Smith is another multi-faceted writer of remarkable knowledge and talent with words. He helps us to recognize the universal truths that are shared by every wisdom tradition, and how we may more fully live them.  A generous, compassionate soul shines from every page. 

Notable Books:  The Religions of Man, The Forgotten Truth

Links to Learn More: HustonSmith.net, Wikipedia entry

Chogyam Trungpa (1940 – 1987)

A Tibetan Buddhist teacher that often scandalized the Buddhist community with his very American ways and questionable method of “crazy wisdom,” Trungpa nonetheless writes brilliantly, cutting to the heart of matter in direct, no nonsense language.  Perhaps because the man himself was unabashedly flawed and prey to ego, he intimately describes our own weaknesses to us, and how we trap ourselves in our illusion.  I find his work bracing and honest.

Notable Books:  Cutting Through Spiritual Materialism, The Myth of Freedom, Shambhala: The Path of the Sacred Warrior, Crazy Wisdom

Links to Learn More:  Wikipedia Entry, Shambhala’s Trungpa Page

Ken Wilber (1949-    )

More than any other writer, Ken Wilber is the compelling voice of sanity and reason speaking from the heart of a movement that has too often slid about in excesses of illogic.  There is no silly stuff in the voluminous works of Wilber, just basic truths organized into an “integral” system that take all areas of human knowledge into account, from religion and spirituality to psychology and science. Beginning with his first popular book written when he was 23, The Spectrum of Consciousness, all the way to his thickly dense Sex, Ecology & Spirituality, Wilber sees directly into the heart of reality and generously translates his vision into mental concepts for those of us trying to understand it all with more clunky brains. 

Notable Books:

Links to Learn More: Wilber Online, Wikipedia entry, KenWilber.com, Integral World

Do you know of other authors and books that belong in this category?  Please let me know at teenabooth@newagepride.org.

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